This paper addresses, from an ecological perspective, the idea that a system of education includes much more than schools, encompassing such elements as families, day-care centers, peer groups, television broadcasters, and workplaces. At the core of such an educational system are educative communities, of which schools are an important part. If education is to take place in settings in addition to schools, it is necessary to clarify what schooling--the setting specifically charged with educating--can uniquely do. If schools are to perform their unique function well, both schools and the other agencies and institutions in the community must be sensitive to the ways in which functions best done elsewhere intrude on schools. These other agencies and institutions must become acutely aware of their educative roles so as to perform them wittingly. Teacher education programs must ensure that prospective teachers acquire the literacy and critical-thinking abilities associated with the concept of an educated person and that they become teachers who inquire into both knowledge and its teaching. Tomorrow's teachers must be equipped for both moral stewardship of schools and responsible participation in a community ecosystem of nurturing and educating the young. (Contains 35 reference notes.) (JDD)